One meeting – a lot of meanings

Posted by Eli Dahan on July 29, 2010 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Jewish Folklore | Be the First to Comment

In genesis 33 Jacob and Esau finally meets after the escape of Jacob to Laban’s house, when he stole the blessing of his brother. If someone would have read the story in Genesis 33 without knowing Jacob’s perforations, he could understand even then the relationship between Jacob’ his wives and his children , soon to be to people of Israel.

We are reading in the beginning of Genesis 33 this verses, as written:

“וַיִּשָּׂא יַעֲקֹב עֵינָיו, וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה עֵשָׂו בָּא, וְעִמּוֹ, אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת אִישׁ;

וַיַּחַץ אֶת-הַיְלָדִים, עַל-לֵאָה וְעַל-רָחֵל, וְעַל, שְׁתֵּי הַשְּׁפָחוֹת.

וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת-הַשְּׁפָחוֹת וְאֶת-יַלְדֵיהֶן, רִאשֹׁנָה; וְאֶת-לֵאָה וִילָדֶיהָ אַחֲרֹנִים, וְאֶת-רָחֵל וְאֶת-יוֹסֵף אַחֲרֹנִים”

“And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.”

When Jacob saw Esau , he was frightened , he thought that Esau will revenge, after he sold his birthright and the blessing of Isaac was stolen from him from his small little brother, the one who held his heel!

From the arrangement of his sons and also from their nicknames one can learn a lot: firstly, the children of Jacob and Lea are called kids, without telling us are their name. Also the names of his made are not written with the names of their sons as well.

Secondly, the only name that is mentioned from the sons of Jacob is Joseph; furthermore his name is coming before his mother’s name- Rachel.

What can we say, my friends, this is a sign to the future quarrel between the brothers – it does all relate to the order and to the nickname!

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com

The lion in the Bible-part 2

Posted by Eli Dahan on July 28, 2010 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Jewish Folklore, Language and Genre | Be the First to Comment

When we are looking at the heroes of The Scriptures, some of them fought with the lions in order to show us their strength and courage, when they competed with them.

The first story is with Samson, who fought against the whelp of lion as it written in judges 14:5-6-

” וַיֵּרֶד שִׁמְשׁוֹן וְאָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ, תִּמְנָתָה; וַיָּבֹאוּ, עַד-כַּרְמֵי תִמְנָתָה, וְהִנֵּה כְּפִיר אֲרָיוֹת, שֹׁאֵג לִקְרָאתוֹ. וַתִּצְלַח עָלָיו רוּחַ יְהוָה, וַיְשַׁסְּעֵהוּ כְּשַׁסַּע הַגְּדִי, וּמְאוּמָה, אֵין בְּיָדוֹ; וְלֹא הִגִּיד לְאָבִיו וּלְאִמּוֹ, אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה.”

“Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnah, and came to the vineyards of Timnah; and, behold, a young lion roared against him. And the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as one would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand; but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.”

When the spirit of The Lord is with you, even the king of the animals can’t defeat you (see also the post on Benaiah the son of Jehoiada). The lion could be also a symbol to the power of the enemies (physical or mental) as we can see for example in Psalm 7:2-3-

” יְהוָה אֱלֹהַי, בְּךָ חָסִיתִי;    הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי מִכָּל-רֹדְפַי, וְהַצִּילֵנִי. פֶּן-יִטְרֹף כְּאַרְיֵה נַפְשִׁי;  פֹּרֵק, וְאֵין מַצִּיל”

“O LORD my God, in Thee has I taken refuge; save me from all them that pursue me, and deliver me; lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.”

When the far distant future will come the lion would be different than today; he will be with a good relationship with the humanity as written in Isaiah 11:6-7-

“  וְגָר זְאֵב עִם-כֶּבֶשׂ, וְנָמֵר עִם-גְּדִי יִרְבָּץ; וְעֵגֶל וּכְפִיר וּמְרִיא יַחְדָּו, וְנַעַר קָטֹן נֹהֵג בָּם. וּפָרָה וָדֹב תִּרְעֶינָה, יַחְדָּו יִרְבְּצוּ יַלְדֵיהֶן; וְאַרְיֵה, כַּבָּקָר יֹאכַל-תֶּבֶן”

“And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

Let us pray and hope for those days that we all will be in this amazing picture described above, as the nature and the people of this planet will live in a great harmony!

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com

The angels were fighting and man has been created!!!

Posted by Eli Dahan on July 17, 2010 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Jewish Folklore, Language and Genre | Be the First to Comment

We all know the famous verse from the story of creation, that tell us about the consolation between the Lord and his angels about the creation of the man, as written in Genesis 1:26-

“וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ; וְיִרְדּוּ בִדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל-הָאָרֶץ, וּבְכָל-הָרֶמֶשׂ, הָרֹמֵשׂ עַל-הָאָרֶץ.”

“And God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.’

The only thing that is missing according to genesis rabbah in this story is the arguments between the angels. In Genesis 1 we are not in arguments, The Lord commended and created. Yet, I am sure that before that created the one who will replace/help in controlling the world- the angels spoke with each other saying, maybe being afraid that the man will replace or threaten them!

Some probably said: this man shouldn’t be created; some said: let this man created to this world, we are not feeling in tense, he is in the ground; we are up in the skies.

According to sages the angels were fighting and God created the man- they are learning from the last verse of chapter 1 with the grade that God gave to his creation

(Very good) the Hebrew world for man – those are the same letters- Mem, Aleph and Dalet as written:

“וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-כָּל-אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה, וְהִנֵּה-טוֹב מְאֹד;..”

“And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good…”

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com

The allegory of the shepherds

Posted by Eli Dahan on July 9, 2010 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Jewish Folklore | Be the First to Comment

In The Book of Ezekiel in chapter 34 we can find a beautiful allegory: Ezekiel, the prophet, compares between the leaders of Israel to the shepherds.

Ezekiel claims that the leaders, like the shepherds, neglecting the people of Israel. Instead of taking care of the sheep and lead them to a safe place, the shepherds ate the fat portion and used the sheep’s wool.

They didn’t feed the sheep and only took care of them self as mentioned in Ezekiel 34:3-4:

” אֶת-הַחֵלֶב תֹּאכֵלוּ וְאֶת-הַצֶּמֶר תִּלְבָּשׁוּ, הַבְּרִיאָה תִּזְבָּחוּ; הַצֹּאן, לֹא תִרְעוּ. אֶת-הַנַּחְלוֹת לֹא חִזַּקְתֶּם וְאֶת-הַחוֹלָה לֹא-רִפֵּאתֶם, וְלַנִּשְׁבֶּרֶת לֹא חֲבַשְׁתֶּם, וְאֶת-הַנִּדַּחַת לֹא הֲשֵׁבֹתֶם, וְאֶת-הָאֹבֶדֶת לֹא בִקַּשְׁתֶּם; וּבְחָזְקָה רְדִיתֶם אֹתָם, וּבְפָרֶךְ.”

“Ye did eat the fat, and ye clothed you with the wool, ye killed the fatlings; but ye fed not the sheep. The weak have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought back that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force have ye ruled over them and with rigour.”

The shepherds also didn’t take care of the sick sheep, didn’t return lost sheep to the flock and behave rudely to them. As a result, the sheep got lost and scattered and wondered through all the mountains, valleys and hills without anyone to lead them. Never the less, the wild animals attacked the sheep and ate them. God has decided to punish the shepherds and took their leadership and saved the sheep from the evil shepherds.

Maybe the problem is not the shepherd or the sheep, maybe if all the world was the sheep and God was the only shepherd with only one flock- the wars would come to an end!

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com